Deno stared at the hunched-over 7-year-old crawling up into a ball while ironically grabbing his own balls.
His curiosity had peaked as Adriana had told him that this was part of the cultivation technique used by the extinct dragon race, but not just any old dragons, the goddamn dragon emperor's cultivation technique.
This was what he had waited so long for, to use this legendary technique and magnify his way to the top even with the supposedly dreadful potential that would make most give up on him at first glance. Martin had emphasised that he had a horrible potential and despite it being disappointing he had figured out that he wasn't supposed to have one anyway. The only reason he could cultivate was because of the experiment done on him as an infant.
Deno didn't know if he should've been hateful or grateful to the Immortals who tormented him all those years. He yearned for nothing more but to listen to their screams as they had his but thanks to them, he has a chance of dominating this planet. Maybe once he's reigning the world as the supreme being he'll save them a nice warm and cosy dungeon to live in and listen to their musical screams.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Deno grew tired of waiting as his eyes shone with passion and excitement as he awaited for something, anything to happen.
What would this ultimate technique look like? How fast would he gain power? Deno could barely hold in his excitement.
The glowing orb flickering on and off began to send particles of yellow light towards the centre of Deno's body, It moved through his robes and into his skin. Deno watched as this occurred and he couldn't help but start to feel a slight tinge of pain.
His face began to scrunch up as he gnashed his teeth hoping not to make a scene, this pain wasn't as bad as when he had gotten his impurities removed and yet it still hurt like hell. Deno could feel Adriana grinning from within his consciousness.
Adriana was immensely delighted to witness this again, how many years had it been since she'd seen someone other than a dragon using the imperial dragon technique, one, only one person in all her millennia?
Deno suddenly realised he was out in the open, if the Sutra Empire found out he could use a legendary cultivation technique, they would torture it out of him.
Seeing Deno's sudden panic Adriana was quick to assure him.
'Don't worry Alexander, nobody but us can see the technique in action... Unless they're a Mystic of course but what are the chances of a Mystic being in this Sect at this specific time in this specific area?'
Deno facepalmed in anger just knowing that she had probably doomed them both.
'You jinxed it didn't you?'
'Jin-What?'
Adriana responded in confusion
'Nevermind...'
Remembering that she wasn't a human Deno sighed at the language barrier between them not allowing them to exchange jokes.
Or maybe it did exist in this universe and she was simply uncultured.
-Shing
"Khhrrr!"
Suddenly blood began to drip out of Deno's mouth as he bit his lip attempting to distract himself from the pain with a corresponding one but to no avail. Deno's bones felt as though they were crumbling in on themselves, his skin felt like they were tearing apart and his head began to ring with a migraine that made him question his life choices.
He suddenly remembered what Adriana and Martin had each separately discussed with him. Every cultivation stage has a different bone tempering becoming far harder with each stage passing. A layer of strength is added to the bone itself.
Going from stone bone layer at 5th stage to bronze at 4th, silver at 3rd, gold at 2nd, platinum at 1st and Selminite at Master stage cultivator, a powerful layer that has the density of practically unbreakable by anything below it.
Deno was now entering the 5th stage cultivator low rank and felt like his body was tearing apart. He could only imagine how terrifying something like 1st stage would be, some parts of him didn't even want to reach that point but he would always drool at the thought of reaching the immense fantasy-like powers.
Sweat began to accumulate on Deno's forehead and his core began to burn up but suddenly, it was all gone. Like it had never even occurred. Deno quickly wiped away the sweat on his forehead and began to flex his newfound 5-year-old 5th stage cultivation prowess.
It hadn't even been a day and he had progressed faster than almost any other disciple, it most likely wouldn't be long before he passes his 'senior sister'.
Although he thought the process was beautiful and excellent for his growth, he had no idea what had just occurred and why. discerning this, Adriana took her queue and explained.
'Ahem, the reason that you increased in cultivation was due to you defeating another Immortal. The Imperial dragon cultivation technique steals the dao of an Immortal and absorbs it for itself slightly decreasing the opponents in the process.'
"Mhm, I see. Hm?"
Noticing the crystal blue-haired boy he had saved lying on the ground looking like a pile of slop, he noticed that he was looking straight at him like he was a messiah.
'Are you sure they can't see the cultivating technique?'
'Yes, I'm sure!'
Adriana responded irritably, how could she, a guardian of the emperor and someone who used the technique herself not know even the most minuscule details of the technique?
'Then? Why is that kid staring straight into my soul?'
'He just watched you increase your cultivation without being in the lotus position or gathering dao manually. What would you think if you saw that?'
'So what are you saying I should do, if he saw it then everybody else probably saw it too. Should I just try to kill them all here and now?'
'What?!? Utterly insane!'
Adriana was shocked, how could he even think to propose to think? Not only was it inhumane but it would absolutely resolve in an absolute failure.
How could he himself take out an entire army of other Immortals? Simply impossible no matter how resilient he is.
'Hahaha, I'm only joking! C'mon now, why would I do that?'
Deno quickly laughed off his previous comment but Adriana had a hunch he hadn't been joking.
At the same time, the doors to the cafeteria were smashed open revealing an average-looking boy of 10 or 11 that was taller than all the disciples of the cafeteria and had darker colour clothing than all the other disciples. By his side, like a pet monkey, was an arrogant-looking kid similar in age to him.
Deno could infer using the audience's reaction to his arrival and the annoyed stare directed at him by the senior disciple that he was here looking for a fight.
Noticing Deno had already figured out what could possibly occur and had placed himself in a defensive stance. Adriana was impressed that she didn't have to warn him and he got it all on his own. Still, she made sure he was fully aware of the power difference.
'Impressive but be careful Alexander, this opponent is a stage 4 cultivator, meaning bronze tempered bones and he is an Outer Disciple.'
'I know, I know.'
Deno wasn't ignorant about fighting people far more powerful than him, during his training around the world he met multiple people who had trained their bodies to be as hard as steel. This was called the Iron Palm and Deno never understood how and why they did it until he followed their method of training.
When he began to train with the disciples of the Shaolin temple, he couldn't keep up past the first few exercises as they smashed their fists through bricks, kicked trees and carried boulders on their heads but after a year of repeating the same training, his rapid process amused them all.
Slowly, their amusement turned into jealousy, they attempted to cripple him on one of their hikes together up a mountain. They orchestrated an attempt to dislocate his knee and ankles making sure he never walked again but they had underestimated his ability.
Deno had trained with hundreds of other martial artists that could wrestle a small bear, that could bend to fit into a box and could decapitate heads with a single move. So they were nothing to him.
They thought he had simply trained his body along with them but to their shock, he made sure to repay their favour by crippling them in return.
The senior disciple stepped forward into the cafeteria, the entire area was engulfed in dead silence as only his light steps could be heard, he had an elegance to him that captivated the starting disciples but to Deno, he looked like any other kid.
The disciples surrounding them began to whisper amidst themselves about how finished Deno was now that the Outer disciple had arrived.
Ryan hearing these whispers clenched his fists, how could he lie here doing nothing when his saviour had just risked his life for him? How could he let himself be saved by another person? How could he let himself be saved once more while he lays helpless? Just like last time.
Ryan slowly braced himself to sneak attack the outer disciple once he was close enough and use one full force attack with all his power behind it to take him out, he just has to wait for him to get closer to Deno and himself.
Suddenly, the outer disciple stopped walking and stood face to face with Deno both polar opposites at the moment. One panting while sweating an entire pool into existence after having increased his cultivation and the other as cool as an icicle.
"My name is Tun Alak, an outer disciple and a 4th stage cultivator."
Deno didn't fall short of noticing his introduction and understood the martial artist's respects for this world and took his queue to introduce himself in return.
With a smirk on his face, Deno declared out loud to all the starting disciples, Link, Ryan and Tun.
"My name is Deno Takahashi, a starting disciple and a 5th stage cultivator."
Tun's mind wandered off into his memories wondering if he had heard that name before being mentioned as he was training. He was sure he had heard it before, he just didn't know where or what it was about.
Well, considering that this boy defeated Link who is a mid-rank while he himself is a low-rank then he must have naturally been discussed in the past thanks to his abilities.
Tun's face suddenly turned serious and the light-hearted atmosphere suddenly switched into a rough palpitating one as he said.
"I have been told you have harmed my junior brother? Is this true?"
"Yes, It's true senior brother! Please get revenge on my behalf, tear him apart!!"
A chubby boy behind Deno began to stand up with quivering knees screaming out at the top of his lungs towards Tun.
In response, Tun released a terrifying presence flooding the cafeteria.
A bead of sweat slowly began to appear on Deno's neck as his body and light blue Daoist robe felt as if they were 15 kilograms heavier.
Deno had felt this type of pressure numerous times already so the other disciples who were unused to this sensation trembled in fear while Deno stood there with confidence brimming from within him and a grin from ear to ear.
Both Link and Ryan who had begun to witness the spectacle were also stuck in place, they were only children and had never once felt anything close to this amount of stress placed on their bodies before. Ryan's previous plan of a counter-attack was completely thrown out the window as his only feeling was to simply run, every sensation in his body told him to run but he couldn't move.
"Impressive, you can withstand this amount of pressure, normally starting disciples can't even stand when an unfamiliar feeling has appeared."
Tun was truly impressed, he had never seen a starting disciple so young easily withstand his pressure. Normally pressure wouldn't work on someone only one stage below but with such young disciples, even tickling them could work, but this Deno kid was different.
For a second Tun reconsidered contesting him as in the future he could become a nuisance but the thought of the rewards for defeating him brought him back to reality. If Deno would become a pain in his ass later then he'll simply have to make sure he can never grow.
Tun dashed at Deno cutting through the air with his speed like a knife through butter and abruptly appeared behind him pulling back his squeezed fist to punch at Deno's spinal cord, in that instant, Deno leapt to the side in sheer desperation Tun's fist still cutting through Deno's robe covering the light blue in a blood red as the blood poured down from the left side of his waist.
If Deno hadn't been sweating before he was now. This Tun kid was incredibly fast, faster than Deno was even in his past life.
'He must really be trying to kill me huh?'
'Alexander! Focus, I swear if you die before I've gotten my new body I'll... I'll! Kill you!'
Deno internally smiled at her horrible attempt at motivation. But he knew he'd be fine, he wanted to test his newfound 'cultivation' out before putting his plan into action and hopefully ending this fight.
Tun's eyes opened in shock, it was absurd, Deno had reacted before he had even moved. How could he read his moves like that, the only reason was that he was a psychic because otherwise that level of martial arts ability could only be wielded by 1st stage cultivators.
Now that he had begun this fight he had to absolutely end it, otherwise, who knew how great of a threat Deno could become in the future? This monster could not be left alive, not for the sake of his own life.